The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, vol. 79
October 21, 1902
“The Unity of the Church” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 79, 43.
E. J. Waggoner
The Bible is full of the idea of unity in the church of Christ, but we do not read so much about uniformity. This unity is to be the unity of life and growth, and not a mere outward connection. In Christ’s prayer to the Father for His disciples, He said, “And the glory that Thou gavest Me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one.” John 17:22, 23. Here we see that the glory of the Lord is to effect the union of believers, and the union is to be that of the Father and the Son. ARSH October 21, 1902, page 9.1
The union of the Father and the Son is union of spirit. We can not comprehend this union, but we may know that it is not a forced union, but that it results from their very nature. They have one life. Their thoughts and purposes are the same, not because they come together and compare notes and agree to be alike, but because one life is in them both. So the union of believers is to be a vital union, or it is not any union at all. It is not accomplished by strife and debate and decisions of majorities, but by yielding the mind to Christ and hearing His voice. They are to be united by the mind and Spirit of Christ. The life of the Father and the Son in each member of the church will produce the most perfect union in the whole body. ARSH October 21, 1902, page 9.2
For the human body is the most perfect example of unity, and it is the example that the Bible gives us. Christ is the Head of the body, the church. Ephesians 1:22, 23; Colossians 1:18. “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.” 1 Corinthians 12:12-14. In the human body there are many members, and each member has a different office from the rest; there is not uniformity of action among the members, but there is the most perfect unity. All work together in perfect harmony for one object. So it is in the body of Christ. “There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.” ARSH October 21, 1902, page 9.3
This gives no ground for the idea that there may be divisions in the church of Christ, one division believing one thing, and another division believing and practicing another thing. God has tempered the body together, that there should be no schism in the body.” 1 Corinthians 12:24, 25. “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as we are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and thru all, and in you all.” Ephesians 4:4-6. The apostle’s exhortation is, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” 1 Corinthians 1:10. But let it be borne in mind that this union is not artificial, but natural; not the human nature, however, but the divine nature. ARSH October 21, 1902, page 9.4
The unity of belief in the church is not forced by the church coming together and the majority defining the creed to be beloved. The church can not define doctrine, nor make laws for itself or anybody else. The church of Christ is made up of all who obey the Lord’s commands not a body to issue commands. The Head directs, the body obeys. God speaks; each one must listen to His voice, for faith comes by hearing the Word of God, and no one can give faith to another. “It is the gift of God.” ARSH October 21, 1902, page 10.1
“Life, Light, and Salvation” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 79, 42.
E. J. Waggoner
When the Jews rejected the Word of life, Paul and Barnabas said, “Lo, we turn to the Gentiles, for so hath God commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles that doubt shouldst be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.” ARSH October 21, 1902, page 11.1
This is quoted from the forty-ninth chapter of Isaiah. It is evident from the connection there, that Christ is directly referred to, and thus we learn that whatever is said to Him applies equally to us. Christ is for salvation from God, to the ends of the earth; but as He is sent into the world, even so are we; and we are likewise set for salvation to the world. Whoever receives the Word of life, has it not merely for his own salvation, but for the salvation of others. We are saved by the life that is given, and the life is the light; but “none of us liveth to himself,” and so whoever is saved will necessarily be a savior of others. ARSH October 21, 1902, page 11.2
It was necessary that this Word of salvation by the light of life should first be preached to the Jews, for in the portion of Scripture which Paul quoted it is written: “Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” Christ is thus addressed as Israel, for he is God’s Son, even His firstborn; but he is “the firstborn among many brethren,” and therefore all believers are Israel. The lineal descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had by virtue of the faithfulness of their fathers the right to lead out in the ministry of salvation; for God chose Israel, not merely for the purpose of saving them, but that they should be His salvation unto the ends of the earth. Of course in order to carry it to others they must have it themselves; but when they not only refused to carry the light of life to others, but were made angry when others ran to it and accepted it, they put it away from themselves. ARSH October 21, 1902, page 11.3
From this we learn that no one can be saved alone. Whoever is saved must be a savior, not by virtue of what he does, but of what he is. He is saved by the life of Christ within him, and that life is light, and the light shines in the darkness and cannot be hid. Whenever anybody, in any nation or at any time, recognizes the light, and lays hold of life, he is then “a light of the Gentiles,” to be the salvation of God to other men. Do you think that you are too poor and weak and sinful and insignificant to be saved? Then think so no longer. Are you not alive? Do you not breathe? Is not the Spirit of God in your nostrils? Well, know that you breathe only the breath which God “breathes out.” There is no life except that which flows from His wounded side. The fact that you live is the assurance that God has already given you salvation. Your part is to believe, not in something that God will do, but in what He has already done; for Christ on the cross said, “It is finished.” ARSH October 21, 1902, page 11.4
But this is not all. God’s salvation is so marvelously abundant that it reaches out far and wide. Like Jordan at the time of harvest, the river of life “overfloweth all his banks.” God speaks “to him whom man despiseth,” no matter what for, nor how justly; no matter how despicable he may be; “to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers,” even to the one who is trodden underfoot, and says: “In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; that thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves.” Isaiah 49:7, 8. How can there be any question whether God can and will save you, when He has chosen you to be salvation to others? Is not this wonderful salvation? “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.” ARSH October 21, 1902, page 11.5
“The Possibilities of Life” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 79, 42.
E. J. Waggoner
Moses did not commit suicide, neither did God kill him; yet he died in the full strength of manhood, with no trace of disease upon him. At the command of the Lord, because he had been unfaithful in a single instance, he laid his life down, just as he would compose himself to sleep. A single failure to acknowledge and honor God before the people, on the part of a man in the position of Moses, meant much more than a failure in duty would on the part of an ordinary person; and for that reason Moses could not be the complete type of Christ, by taking the children of Israel into the promised land. But God’s refusal to allow him to do this, and His command to Moses to die, was not an arbitrary punishment; it grew out of the very nature of the case. Moses had broken the connection,-had turned aside the stream of life from its proper channel,-and having denied it once, he was obliged to lay it down. It was but a temporary break; but the people had to learn that it is not a light thing to be out of harmony with God. ARSH October 21, 1902, page 12.1
But let us from the case of Moses consider a little more closely some of the possibilities of life. God is no respecter of persons, and what He did for Moses we may be sure He will do for any who will use life as faithfully as Moses did. By using it faithfully I do not mean merely what is called “improving the time,” but recognizing God’s ways, and learning how he lives, so as to know how to conform to the laws of life. God “made known his ways unto Moses” (Psalm 103:7), in the same psalm that tells us this, it tells us to bless his holy name, “and forget not all his benefits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” ARSH October 21, 1902, page 12.2
Note that it is when our mouth is satisfied with good things that our youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Thus it was with Moses. Others complained of the simple food that God gave them,-bread from heaven,-but Moses did not. How can people be so blind to the influence of diet upon their life, when they know full well that they live by eating? God told the Israelites in the beginning of their sojourning in the wilderness: “Ye shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless thy bread and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.” Exodus 23:25. In Moses this was fulfilled, and so it might have been in all the rest. ARSH October 21, 1902, page 12.3
Do not misunderstand. The idea is not that the fountain of eternal youth is in eating and drinking. Far from it. But the truth intended to be conveyed is that God, “the fountain of living waters,” with whom is “the fountain of Life,” is for that very reason the Fountain of the eternal youth, and that by learning His way of living, and adopting it,-living by perfect and intelligent faith in Him, we can preserve in ourselves the youthfulness of the ancient days. Our food and drink come from God, and are the visible means of the communication of God’s life to us, but not the only means. By eating and drinking, as well as doing all of the things, to the glory of God, we not only get fresh life from him, but we put no obstruction in the way of his life, and so by faith we get the “more abundant” life that is greater than all the visible things in the universe. To know God’s ways, should be the one study of mankind. ARSH October 21, 1902, page 13.1